Survey Done

After an eternal wait we finally received a letter from the builder.  This asked us to sign our life away on the boundaries of the block or provide a surveyors certificate.  We went with the surveyor and after a few phone calls I ended up getting a small back yard guy who works from home.  Within a week he delivered certified plans to our door, excellent service.

I've also spoken to our Site Supervisor (SS) for the first time.  I got an email from the builder asking for the rock to be removed.  I phoned back and asked for clarification and they said that SS would call me back.  Finally after three days and a couple of calls he did call and it was no issue, he just thought that I may have wanted to remove the soil (spoil from the tank excavation) before they built, which is happening very soon.  He indicated that they may start to excavate the flat area for the garage by the end of this week.

Something has happened

Her indoors went past this morning and guess what.

Does this mean site start?  Is the clock now ticking?

Permits received, new contact at builders

 

We have approved plans!!!!!!

We received the final amended documentation Monday, we signed it all and mailed it back on Tuesday.  I also scanned and emailed a copy to try to speed things up too.  I gave the builder a days grace to get sorted and called on Thursday.  They were in the process of transferring the documentation to the construction people.  Apparently a letter would have been sent out detailing our requirements on Friday.  We need to action this letter and get it back to the builder.  Once they receive this letter they will start on site within 21 days.  They did also promise that they will try to start earlier due to other delays that we have experienced.

I think the letter will ask us to ensure the following:

• That the block is clear of rubbish and grass;
• That the block boundaries are appropriately identified;
• That we have identified the block by placing a sign with our name and the lot number on it.

It will probably also ask for things that we have already provided as well, including a certificate of title, evidence that we can pay for the construction and a few other things.

Last weekend the boys and I went to the block to double check the dimensions and to place a sign identifying the block, so I think that we have done everything required.  Now the waiting game continues.

Time for another letter

You may be wondering why we aren't posting photos of our preliminary excavations etc. So are we.

Because we had to raise the house 600mm this meant that our garage wall on the North side of the block had to become 600mm taller.  This makes the "wall on boundary" too high for planning regulations.  The builders let us know this and said that dispensation was required from the council, unfortunately they left out the bit that it was us that had to organise dispensation until I asked how the request was going.

Therefore we had to jump into action, we downloaded the appropriate forms from council, wrote a covering letter and had our neighbours sign a copy of the plans stating that it was OK.  Within 6 business days we had received documentation back from council saying that it was approved.

Meanwhile I had been continuously requesting final documentation from the builder, unfortunately nothing seems to have happened.  Therefore we now require a new letter to try to get action.

Wow, letters work

If you want a response to a query and emails and phone calls don't seem to work, write a letter.  I was getting a little exasperated trying to get some responses to a query so I thought lets try another tact, I'll try a letter.  Pretty much all I did was copy text straight out of an email asking questions such as "please explain delays" and "will we get colorbond?"  I sent the letter on Sunday arvo so the letter may have arrived at their offices as early as Monday, however I got a full answer, via email, this afternoon.  That's one of the best turn arounds I've had.

I think that this is the ultimate benefit of trying to get the contract sorted as soon as possible, now there is a legal requirement for them to action my queries.  According the contract if they do not respond they are in breach.  Whilst I would never really want to enforce breach if they do not respond appropriately, it is a good position to be in.  If they breach the contract you are entitled to seek an alternate builder to build the rest of the house and the current builder must cover costs.  This will result in extra time and most likely extra costs to you, however it would be a disaster for the builder.

$10k extra and Colorbond weirdness

The builders came back with the new cost for having to raise the house 600mm this week.  It looks like they have reduced the site cost by the exhorbatant cost for the tree and then added $20k, therefore our sites are now $10k over the original quote.  At least we won't get flooded, our house will be on stumps and we will have a better aspect.  This has caused a few other problems though.

We have to put extra steps from the garage into the house.   Our alfresco will now be over 1m off the ground, hopefully we can use the spoil from the water tank to fix this up, and our front porch may be a little high too.  We will deal with these issues once the house is partially complete to see what would look best.

 

Another funny thing on Friday was the builder said that they had forgotten to include the cost of the colorbond in our price.  I looked through our documents and our signed specification and our signed plans include colorbond roofing.  I also double checked our contract documents and could find no loophole that the builder could use to charge us more.  I sent an email explaining this asking for return receipt, however I have not received anything yet.  I will send a snail mail and fax copy of this and all other docs I have sent to ensure that these sort of issues are properly covered.

Underground Water Tank Goes In.

When I knew that the demolition was almost complete I phoned the plumber whom had supplied a quote to install a 10,000L underground water tank for us.  He said, I'll get it sorted later next week.  Now I had been hearing this sort of thing from our builder constantly and had thought that he was joking, however as per the photos below, we now have a 10,000L concrete underground tank installed.  Whoohoo progress is really there.